Once In A Lifetime
by prettykouka
Summary: Gabriella has been through a lot of rough changes in her life,whether it’s in her spiritual relationship or in her family,she can’t trust anyone.And when she sees Troy again,he is the one that revives the memories she tried so hard to destroy.
1. Chapter 1

**ONCE IN A LIFETIME…**

Summary

_Gabriella has been through a lot of rough changes in her life, wetter it's in her spiritual relationship or just her family and friends, she can't trust anyone. Not anymore. That's when she meets Troy but she has to fight the past before letting him in her life, anxious and scared about him ruining her life more than it is already. _

**THIS STORY WAS POSTED HERE BEFORE BUT DELETED BY ME AND NOW I'm REPOSTING AND TWO FIRST CHAPTERS ARE THE SAMETHEN CHAPTER 3IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT THING PLEASE WAIT UNTIL I UPDATE TO THIS CHAPTER IF YOU"VE READ IT ALREADY YOU WON"T HAVE TO WAIT LONG I PROMISE.**

**IDON"T OWN HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL OR ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH DISNEY.**

**CHAPTER 1**

_A certain brunette, living in Malibu, woke up at the smell of fresh home made pancakes and bacon tickling her nostrils. She slowly opened her eyes, adjusting them to the bright light of the sun penetrating through the lids of her windows._

_She reluctantly got out of bed and headed to her bathroom._

_Looking at her reflection in the big mirror, she fixed her bed hair into a high messy ponytail and pinned up the few curls that were getting into her face._

_After brushing her teeth and washing her face, getting down the stairs, she walked into the kitchen/ dining room, where she found her eleven year old little sister setting the table along with her dad currently putting four cups in the right place on the table and her mom placing the plates of pancakes and bacon._

_As she passed by she grabbed one of the pancakes which had her mom exclaim:_

''_Hey! Hands off!'' with a smile and the young teenager placed a kiss on her cheek then passed by her to do the same task to her dad._

"_Good morning Ana-bee! How did my cutie sleep tonight?'' she asked as she walked by the little girl and ruffled her soft amount of short curly hair. _

"_Good!'' she replied with a big smile, showing her white small aligned teeth. "How did you?''_

"_Not bad" Grabbing the fresh pressed orange juice out of the fridge and putting it on the table, she sat next to the sink and pulled the kid into a hug._

"_You still want to go to the beach later?'' Gabriella asked her younger sibling, pulling out of the hug to see her face._

''_I wouldn't miss it for the world!'' exclaimed Ana. _

_After a moment though she asked: _

"_Are we going surfing?" the desire of that request was palpable both on her face, eyes and tone._

_Gabriella torn her eyes away from the younger girl and looked over at her mom for help, not knowing exactly what to say in that very situation since the circumstances._

_And as she wished, her mom answered the question for her, getting her out of an awkward moment._

"_Honey, I don't think that…''_

"_You are ready for this.'' Finished Ana for her mother, already knowing the answer of her question by the tone in her mom's voice. 'How can she know what's the best for me?' she whispered to her self but loud enough for Gabriella to hear and quickly turned her face towards her, to hide the tears that threatened to fall, away from her mom and let out a loud sob as her dad entered the room, who left it before their conversation had started to grab the paper outside, pick up the mail and put the garbage out._

_As her Annette was going to answer to her younger child, her husband said:_

"_I hear sobbing…'' he sat at the table facing all three girls and watching his daughters sharing an embrace. He cleared his throat, already understanding what was going on without having to ask anything but by the look that his wife gave him._

'' _Hey Ana! I have great news for you…''_

_The crying little girl let her sister sweep the tears out of her face, before turning around and facing her dad._

"_But before that, I'm starving! So let's eat and we'll talk while having breakfast. We better eat now anyway before my sweet bacon get cold'' he smile a little at his last sentence and putting a hand on his now grumbling tummy, before putting it back on the table and took his wife's hand in his, the girls did the same and bowed down for the morning prayer. _

"_Lord, we come before you this morning Father, to thank you for this food that you give us. Thank you for taking care of us. May you bless the people that prepared this food and I also pray for the people that can't or don't have things to eat, like we do, today. _

_May they be confident and may they trust you, for you to provide to them everything that they would need. Lord, may you bless this day, as we are about to head to church to worship and glorify you as you are to be. Lord I ask you also to cure Ana's disease as you know her problems, her fears and everything else better than I do._

_May your healing hands rest upon her and her sick friends who shared the same difficult moments along with her. We thank you for everything Lord. Amen." _

"_Amen" they said in unison _

_As they served them selves the things that were set on the table, Ana asked_

"_So what was it you had to tell me dad?''_

_Daniel chewed down the aliments he had in his mouth at the moment before answering _

"_Madison's dad called me yesterday morning about some kind of dance class for the Christmas holidays coming up, would you be interested?'' he asked with a half-smile as he saw the sudden change in her daughter's body and expressions._

"_Are you kidding?!! '' she exclaimed "Dancing is like my passion! I always had it in my blood! I live for dancing!'' _

"_Seriously dad, you should have known this. She took dance classes and had some shows before she…''Gabriella stopped at what she was going to say, not choosing her words properly._

"_Yeah true, before all this happened.'' Ana said, smiling to her sister she added "Its okay Gabi, it's been over two months now.''_

"_Daniel, are you sure this is the right choice? I mean, I wouldn't mind Ana dancing again but the thing is, will she be ready for it?"_

_Daniel placed his right hand over his wife's and said:_

"_Honey, I wouldn't have offered this if I didn't know it was safe for little Ana. And the dance course is in winter which gives her time to recuperate more strength and to prepare her. Besides, the course was first suggested by her doctor and it was deeply discussed between her, Madison's dad and me. She also said that it would be a great opportunity for Ana to make a few new friends besides the ones from the hospital and so on.''_

_After all those convincing affirmations, Annette couldn't disagree._

"_Well, it does look like a good idea to me to. Maybe we could do this.'' She looked at the eleven year old girl facing her "What do you think?"_

_Still extremely chocked and also relieved that her protective mother had accepted the offer, she smiled and added enthusiastically "I wouldn't miss THAT for the world!''_

"_Is Maddie going to go there?'' _

"_Actually yes, her and Sarah" responded Daniel, feeling that the question was addressed to him_

"_Where the dance course is being held is actually a therapist center, they have all kind of sports and activities you can do. It's like a summer camp; the only difference is that it's in winter."_

"_But they didn't have any more space so we will be sleeping at a sky lodge and if it's possible maybe we will go skiing." _

_He looked over at his wife, who was currently looking at him like he was crazy, and quickly added "or not"._

"_So we will go abroad?" asked an anxious Gabriella._

"_Yes. Plane and everything, but I won't tell you where it is. That's a surprise.''_

"_When are we leaving?" the girls asked in unison, their excitement barely hidden._

"_Girls, slow down, your dad probably hasn't done the reservations yet as he discussed it only yesterday as he said" Annette urged_

"_No no. Everything is already sorted out. The tickets have been bought and we are all living on the 7__th__ of December…''_

"_Oh! Awesome! I'll be spending my birthday over there.'' Ana said, smiling even wider if that was even possible. This news brought so much happiness to her little heart that she totally forgot about the incident of this morning. The though of going on vacation and being able to dance again filling her mind and stimulating her senses._

"_HEY! But wait a minute! I don't think I'll be finishing school that early! And I have tests.'' Exclaimed Gabriella, the matter coming to her at that very moment. "I can't miss school!"_

"_Don't worry Gabi, I already talked to your principal and he said it would be fine. You would just have to take your tests earlier. He also said that the fact that you are such an excellent student, it wouldn't affect you much at all. So how's that?''_

''_Okay. I feel better now."_

"_Is Gabi going to dance with me to?'' _

"_Actually, yes but that's if she wants. They also have teenager classes: like hip-hop, ballet, singing, drawing and more. I don't really remember.''_

_The family continued talking while having breakfast, well that is for the parents as the children were to excite to eat._

_They then prepared themselves for church and that's how the morning of their Sunday passed by, being the end of the weekend but also the beginning of last week of October, which would bring them closer to the day they would be leaving the country. _

_Little did they know that in two months or so, that so called vacation would bring them more sadness than happiness._

_But would also be the beginning of a new life._


	2. Chapter 2

**The first chapter was kind of an introduction to the story. And it took place in the past, which explains the italic.:) I hope that all of you are satisfied with the story and that you'll review and read the future updates**.

**I STILL DON"T OWN ANYTHING AND THAT'S FOR THE WHOLE STORY **

**CHAPTER 2**

Why did everything have to go the un-expected way?

But always the un-expected way in a bad way. The way that could always mark you for the rest of your lifetime. One second you are happy and in control of things in your life and in a blink of an eye, the second later, everything that you spend time building seemed to fade and get destroyed before your very eyes.

These were the painful thoughts that a certain brunette had as she walked in the hallways of her new school, in a new town, million of miles away from her original home.

Since her dad had left the earth, you would think that she would have lived miserably, but it was the opposite. The fact that he left, gave her more reasons to live. The fact that he wasn't there gave her more hope, confidence and happy moments. But her dad also left pain. Pain for her to whimper in, fear and sadness.

The loving dad that was shown to you disappeared a few months later, when he lost his job and started drinking, becoming an alcoholic.

That's when the nightmare started, when all the overwhelming beauty of the earth seemed to go away, become sepia all of a sudden. Her life had become a living nightmare, with nothing to be laughing nor smiling about.

All sparkles, happy moments, music, smiles had gone down the same way her dad had a few bottles of beer and vodka down in gulps.

Nothing had been the same.

And the consequences of that lost were, what made it all the more painful, Gabriella decided, because she didn't miss the alcoholic man that her mom happened to marry for seventeen years. She missed her dad. The one that she had loved, played and laughed with.

As she made a stop to study the way she needed to go for her first class, she felt a hard body hit hers, causing the things that she held in her hands to fall on the floor with herself.

She quickly got up to her feet, not paying much attention to the people that glared at her without helping, some laughing and making fun of the new girl, others just passing by not caring of if she had gotten hurt or not.

As she gathered her stuff, she felt a presence next to hers, helping her pick up the school supplies that were now all over the floor around her:

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." His apologies didn't seem to be false as Gabriella could sense the truth in his voice. "I was to busy laughing with my friends. I'm really sorry"

He got up with the rest of her stuff and handed them to her as she managed to get out:

"It's okay." She took her stuff from his hands still not looking up at the guy standing next to her, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. She just wanted to get to class and get the day over with.

"Are you sure?" The voice asked with more concern.

This statement made her look up. She hadn't met anyone caring for her this much in a while. Actually, not a lot of people were concerned for her, despite her family which was a normal fact.

Gazing into blue familiar eyes, she gave the sandy hair boy a little smile, but nothing farther as he was pulled by the hand by a curly puffy brown haired boy who told him something that she could barely hear but as she read his lips captured something like:

'What are you doing? She's a new girl!'. Then him and all his sport team mates synced into the morning crowd.

He's eyes were familiar to her, but she couldn't quite remember where she had met such friendly ones. She had never visited Mexico before and none of her friends had those kinds of blue orbs.

As Gabriella tracked down her next class, she figured that she could use a little visit to the girl's room, as homeroom was near it.

She pushed the revolving door open and got into a cabinet before setting her bag on the rack that was made for that purpose and sat on the bowl's cover, letting out a sight, her shoulders being weighed down with her heavy breathing.

After a moment of doing silent prayers, she got up to her feet, and managed to open the door, without success. The lock wouldn't release. Gabriella started panicking about how she could go out of the bathroom.

She looked up and saw no way of escaping from there. It looked really dangerous: she would have to hiss her self up on the bowl and try to crawl up the wall that separated her cabinet to the next one.

Looking down to her feet, she saw a way out but then revised her self from that idea as she saw water on the floor. She couldn't make a wet impression on her first day! But then again she could really careless about what people thought of her. And she doubt that anyone would pay attention to her: she was invisible.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the bell ringing fiercely into her ears.

'Oh no! Warning bell!' Gabriella thought.

If someone didn't come in the bathroom in less than ten minutes, she would be dead. Having been advised that her dramatic, homeroom teacher would give her detention even if it's her first day at East High School.

That at least was what the principal said. He wouldn't lie right?

I just had to go to the bathroom! , she thought mad at herself for this.

Doing a silent prayer as to how, the Lord almighty would send someone to come and rescue her as she was prisoner of a stupid bathroom, on her first day of school.

After a moment Gabriella resigned herself. She sat on the bowl, her hands on her face. Someone will find me, I mean it's the bathroom! It's not like no one goes to the bathroom.

Finally, after what seemed to be in eternity she heard someone push the door of the bathroom. Gathering some courage, she said in a calm voice:

"Excuse me? Could you help please? I'm stuck in the bathroom"

She was only responded by silence. Feeling a little sick and sadness overwhelm her Gabriella sat back on the bowl and pushed her knees up her chest, wrapping her arms around them and rocking her self slowly. She let out a small sob and then she heard the person say her name. Her nickname to be exact.

Today was one of the weirdest days. First she bumps into this guy and now someone is saying her name, without her knowing anyone. It was her first day.

"Gaby?" Asked a high pitched voice, filled with shock, "Is that you?... I know it's you. You're my only friend that is able to sob this way. Gabriella?"

Recognizing her friend's voice, Gabriella smiled and got up her feet, quickly saying:

"Sharpay! It's me! It's Gaby!'' She paused letting her emotions sync in "We could talk, but it would be better if I wasn't stuck here."

"Why don't you just open the door?"

"Sharpay Evans, you never change now do you? I would if I could now don't you think? The lock is stuck!" She exclaimed with a giggle. Unable to stop herself from smiling.

"Well that explains a lot! Okay so move back. Nothing can resist to my heels. Put your self to the side as I'll try to force the door."

She did as she was told. Feeling happy as the idea of having a long lost friend from Malibu, be in the same school as her.

She felt happy. And happiness was one of the emotions that she had buried ,deep deep down in the ground, next to her mother's grave.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard a bang on the door that was being forced out by her friend on the other side.

After a moment of doing so, the door finally gave in and revealed Sharpay, dressed in a white shirt with pink sparkles and a bright pink mini skirt. The usual kind of Sharpay. Never changed, not now and probably not ever, Gabriella thought to her self a little smile on her face as she embrace the blonde's body in a thigh hug which she gratefully returned.

Then they both rushed to homeroom and got there as the bell rang. Unfortunately for them, all the sits next and behind Sharpay were already taken except for Sharpay's usual sit next to Ryan on the second row, so as Gabriella handed to her new teacher some papers, she spotted a seat at the opposite side of the room from Sharpay and Ryan, on the front row. It was isolated from the rest of the classroom. So she directed her self to that seat, sat on it and waited for morning announcements to begin, getting out a notebook and pencils to draw and write what had happened this morning.

And as their teacher started to speak a student got in the room, excuse him self for his late timing, knowing that he was probably going to end up in detention for that but didn't quite care. Moving to his usual seat, he found a girl with curled brown hair there, her face staring at a blank paper on the desk, not paying attention to what was going on in the room.

It's only when he racked his throat that Gabriella realized that the boy that had hit her this morning was now standing in front of her, a demanding look on his face.

It's then that it clicked. The puffy guy behind her was his friend. And the seat she was currently seating on was his.

As she gathered her stuff in silence, not wanting to get in trouble on her first day, she heard the teacher exclaim:

"Oh come on Mr. Bolton! Just find another seat! My patience has limits, and be a gentleman for once."

Gabriella looked up and saw that the boy had started to rub the back of his neck, a little excuse smile on his face. He didn't say a word but his eyes said it all: 'Sorry. Just stay there for today, but tomorrow; I would want my seat back please'

Gabriella watched as he moved away from where he was, being directed to the back of the room where an empty seat was.

Tomorrow, this would be the seat, she'll be occupying for the rest of the year. If her family didn't decide to move again, which she had started to be used to, even if each time it happened she was in the obligation to say goodbye to her old friends, and hello to a new life.

The day went by fast, nothing like the incident of that morning happened again, as Gabriella chose her seats carefully.

She had lunch with Sharpay on a table outside, celebrating the nice weather of Early February along with them meeting again unexpectedly after being separated for over a year and a half.

The best friends had met in their dance classes when they were younger, back in Malibu. And they hadn't really talked since they both moved but Sharpay was aware of everything going on in the brunette's life as her parents had often contact with hers.

She felt bad for her in so many ways.

Her life was way more difficult than hers. So pitiful. So filled of sadness, sorrow and pain. It had been terrible.

Sharpay had wanted to drive Gabriella home, but the petite frame girl had insisted on her preferring to take her bike and ride back home by herself as that was the way she went to school that day, as it was a nice weather to do so and the fact that also, the school wasn't far away from her house.

No need to spend gas to do the small distance: less pollution in the world. She was trying to go green, her little sister being right behind her in that decision.

As she rode back home, the warm wind on her face, she couldn't help but think about her parents. They were both gone. Forever.

At that thought a tear fell down her some cheek and her features were destroyed by the pain that was felt by her heart and into her body.

As she got the big house thought, she forced a smile on her face, dropped her bicycle on the grass in front of the house and rushed to greet her aunt and sister. She changed into comfy sweats and rushed back down the stairs.

As she had promised her sister, they both took their bicycle and headed towards the small town, being claimed not to be late for dinner by their aunt.

They rode downtown familiarizing them selves with the stores and restaurants, spotting a huge park, a pizza parlor, some of their favorite stores to shop in, other brands they didn't know, a Mc Donald and as they rode some more, spotted their favorite ice cream store: 'Dairy Queen'.

Even if dinner was coming up, they both couldn't resist the urge to get in and order their favorite sundaes with brownies and chocolate fudge all over.

Then, they walked around the town, finding places where they knew they would spend lots of time like a dance class and an ice rank.

They loved to go ice skating. It didn't quite matter if it wasn't real ice. They had promised them selves to find stuff to make keep them occupied and maybe, just maybe they might find happiness again.

Something told them that it would be the best for them if they found stuff to do in their free time. That something was probably their aunt. And they had agreed to her statements and suggestions.

After finishing their sundaes, they went back to their bicycles and drove to the park, which was a short cut to their house.

They arrived home as their aunt was putting the last plates on the table.

Gabriella and Ana washed their hands before they sat on the table, prayed then ate their delicious dinner. You would think that the girls would be filled with their sundaes but they were so starving that the sundaes wouldn't have filled them up.

They ate in silence before broke the silence by addressing herself to her younger sister

"Hey Ana. Guess who I met at school today?"

"Who?" the little girl asked back. Being clueless at who that would be.

"Sharpay!"

"What? No way!" she exclaimed startled.

"Wait… Are you talking about _the_ Sharpay Evans?"

"Yup the same one. She hasn't changed a bit."

"And I wonder why that doesn't surprise me" She giggled.

Gabriella was startled. She hadn't heard her sister giggle in basically two months. It was like music to her ears.

"Who's Sharpay?" asked the adult in the family, shocked also by the giggle of the younger girl.

"Shar is Gabriella's best buddy from dance class. They had lost contact since they both moved away from Malibu like two years ago. She's a really fun blonde to hang out with. And she LOVES pink. It's crazy. I have never seen Sharpay wearing something that doesn't have pink sparkles or bedazzled stuff on it. It would be history and should be marked in Guinness records if one day I spot Shar without wearing something that hasn't pink in it." She smiled at her statement and added "Even then, I think she would have pink undies or a pink head band or bracelets…"

Ana's sentence was cut off by the sound of the door bell. Who could that be? They had just moved here a week or so ago. They didn't know anyone, except the people that worked with their aunt at the workshop store. And they didn't visit her.

The three of them got up from the table and walked to find three people standing on the porch a smile on their faces.

"Hi! Montez family? We are your neighbors. We realized that you guys had just moved in and we wanted to say welcome and greet you in the neighborhood." The woman said. Smiling she added: "I know you have been here for over a week but we just thought it would be better to bring you these home made brownies at least on the first day back to school as our son here was also out of town" The woman said, handing Anette the box that contained the brownies.

The girls greeted them in for a piece and it's then that Gabriella saw him. That sandy haired boy with adorable blue eyes.

She gave him a little smile before leading them to the living room. He sat on the couch next to Ana while Gabriella sat near them, on a comfortable chair.

She didn't know what to say. She had met him somewhere before, but couldn't figure out where exactly. So many stuff had happened in her life and there are some stuff, some happy moments, and some friendly people she had totally forgotten about. And that boy was not an exception to the list.

She had buried them in boxes that were now in the ethic.

Then it came to her as he told her his name. They really had met before. Two years ago, to be exact. Maybe he didn't remember either.

"Hey! I know that name!"

He let out a relieved sight

"I thought you had forgotten me Gabriella.'' He smiled

She smiled back, loving the way he had pronounced her name. But her smile quickly faded away as she thought of something. Something that was so painful, she could keep it inside her.

She wouldn't fall again. Not now. Not ever. She wouldn't let that happened. She had suffered too much last time. She wouldn't go back.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**Hey guys, so this is the first chapter where the changes I've made take place, and I'm trying my best to do this story just like I wanted it to be this time.**

**So thanks for your support and everything :)**

**Hope to see reviews in!-xoxo Pretty kouka**

**I DON"T OWN ANYTHING!**

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"WHAT?'' the blonde shrieked.

"Shht!!'' Gabriella tried to silence her friend, but of course, Sharpay was too excited for that.

"You know Troy?? When did that happen? Tell me everything!''

"If I tell you will you promise to keep it to yourself and lower your voice down? You are getting attention''

With a frown, she nodded but that didn't gather up her excitement. Nothing could bring Sharpay down once she put her mind on something.

"Yes, I know Troy. But I don't know him _that _much. I didn't even remember him, up until he showed up on my door step last night with his family. I think he recognized me from yesterday when he bumped into me so hard that my papers went flying everywhere."

"He showed on—"

The looks Gabriella sent the blonde made her stop half way through the sentence. Sharpay gave her an apologetic look and motioned for her to finish.

"Yes he showed on my doorstep. He's my next door neighbor.

Gabriella sighted before continuing. "And I don't know how to feel about that. Because when I met him, it was during that winter that changed my life. You know what happened. With my dad and stuff. Even thought it was the winter that Anna's sickness was truly cured and that she really became stronger, it was during that vacation that everything changed. You know how I hate changes. It never gives me time to find a balance.

"Anyway, we met at that ski lodge that I went to with my family, and where Anna went to that winter dance camp for child with special needs and diseases. It was New Year Eve, and it was the first year that we didn't do our little fire and sat together with marshmallow sticks and chocolate dips. I missed that but it was okay because I found refuge to that teenage new year celebration that took place and the youth building. There was this karaoke contest or something, and while I was there, I was force to sing. You know I hate like hate to be in the spotlight, but it didn't feel like that at all. Like I didn't feel like throwing up like I usually do. And now that I really think of it, and kind of remember better, it was because of him. He's voice was reassuring, plus the song we had sang made it all more powerful because it was this song about how two people fell in love when they met. 'The start of something new' I think it was called.

"Seriously, when you look at that title, it all describe what fallowed. The start of a whole new life. A dreaded one, by any seventeen year old. Imagine how worst it must have been for my little sister. I mean before all of this came crashing down on all of us, she was diagnose with cancer! She spent half of her life in a hospital, the other half being taken care of like a fragile porcelain doll or something. What's weird—but maybe not so much—is that she was the strongest in all of us. She was the one that still had faith on God after my dad started gambling, she was the one that still continued to pray for him when he came home drunk. And even if my mom and I tried our best to hide from her that my mom was being beaten up by my dad- who lost his mind totally- she found out, and still hang on by his side. It's just so unbelievable. Anna has more faith and power than I'll ever have in a lifetime.''

Gabriella hadn't realized that she had tears streaming down her face now. Her story being brought up just in that small talk about this boy that came in her life again. This boy that brought it all along with him. The bad memories seemed to surface on the good ones, so much that she totally forgot about all the time that she had fun teaching a children ballet dance class that winter, she forgot about the snow ball fight she had with her sister, the time where her mom and dad still loved each other, the time that her only desire, her inspiration and purpose came from God. All of it seemed to disappear behind all of the terrible things that happened to her.

She was brought into a hug by her best friend and Sharpay tried soothing her by pulling her close and playing in her hair. She use to love that. It always made her feel better.

"You don't have to continue Bells.'' She whispered after a while.

Gabriella nodded her head still resting on her friend's shoulder. "You would understand right if I told you that I couldn't –can't bear even the thought—of having him into my life right?''

Sharpay didn't answer, thinking.

"I mean you see what he does to me, what emotions resurface when I speak or think about him. Only bad memories. I kind a' accepted to come here a thousand miles away from Malibu, to forget and move on. And if he's part of my new life, it will never work. I won't get away from them. They'll only be there permanently you know?''

Sharpay nodded, still not saying anything.

"But Troy isn't that bad of a guy you know Bells?''

"Maybe, I don't know, but one thing I'm sure of, is that without even knowing it, he hurts me. He breaks me."

Sharpay shook her head, startling Gabriella.

"No. He doesn't do that. It's not voluntarily. Maybe if you did let him into your life, maybe if he was a part of it, he could help cure you, he could help mending you. Maybe he was sent from God…or something. Why don't you give him a shot?"

The bell rang, like a wake-up call. They both jumped up and got up, directing themselves to their next class, without talking, each to their own thoughts.

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**HA!! I feel wayyyyy better about this story than I did before. And I hope you guys are happy about the changes too. Next chapter will be up in a while. I won't make you wait too long but I would love to have like 3 reviews for the next chapter. **

**It would be great. But I'll still upload, just because I like to please people :) this is God's work anyway. All of this is being written and being brought up for His glory. Show Him how you appreciate. It's not about me.:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**I hope that you all are satisfied with all that is happening (those of you who have not read it yet) and for those of you who have, well I hope you are okay with all the changes. The plot hasn't changed much, it's just that it's a different preparation to the chapters and so on…so yeah. Keep on reading and enjoying your selves! Tell me what you think. You know that I love to hear what you got to say! :)**

Gabriella stared at the paper in her hand blankly, not really reading it.

Her thoughts were preoccupied, replaying over and over again all that happened during lunch. Sharpay's voice reasoning in her head after her comment:

"_Maybe, I don't know, but one thing I'm sure of, is that without even knowing it, he hurts me. He breaks me." _She had said

"_No. He doesn't do that. It's not voluntarily. Maybe if you did let him into your life, maybe if he was a part of it, he could help cure you, he could help mending you. Maybe he was sent from God…or something. Why don't you give him a shot?"_

'At what cost thought? At what cost would I give him a shot? My heart? Could it ever love again? Would it be able to endure the lost of someone else_?_' Gabriella thought

She was too busy thinking about all of that, to really notice anything going on in her class: who she was next to, what the lecture was being about— though she had already studied the entire chapter of her sciences studies for this month even if she was only in her first week of school.

She was like a nerd, but Gabriella Montez was a natural. She loved studies and books loved her. It was easy for her to stay up a night studying even I she had a test in more than two weeks. She was always prepared. Plus she absolutely enjoyed science. It was her very best subject.

As busy as she was, lost in her own little world and existence she hadn't noticed when the boy she wanted to utterly get away from, sat next to her, on the high stool. She hadn't realized both that it was the only seat available and so he had a valuable reason to seat next to her.

Only when she felt a nudge in her ribs that she gasped and looked up at the figure next to her, finally getting out of her pacing.

"What?"She almost yelled. Anger started building up in her because she now realized how close she was to the boy she was trying her best to avoid and that her ribs were now burning her from pain.

"Miss Montez, would you mind getting back to Earth and answer the question I asked you?''

This made her look up from Troy and at the teacher with a questioning look. "Would you mind telling us what makes a heart that has been placed in a body, beat faster, as we know—unless you weren't fallowing—that it has no connection to the responsible nerves?''

Gabriella sighted when she was all the eyes turn towards her, the one nearest to her felt like it was piercing through her skin. _That's an easy one._

"Adrenaline and the contraction of muscles when in activity.''

"That is correct. Thank you."

Gabriella frowned and was about to go back her pacing when it occurred to her that the pain in her ribs increased. She glanced to the side, as to the cause of that pain. Troy was looking at her too, and when their eyes met, he looked away toward the teacher.

"Did you have to hit me this hard? What is wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?"

"Sorry, I was trying to get your attention so that you may not be in trouble." He whispered back without looking at her.

"Well you shouldn't have done that, because you would probably be the reason of me going to the hospital for injury."

He chuckled silently still not looking away from the board except for a quick second while she was still watching him.

She focused back to the teacher thought and muttered under her breath: "It's not funny and it really hurts.''

He finally turned towards her and focused on her face. Then he quickly raised his hand.

When the teacher saw his movement he spoke quickly "Sir, would you mind if I accompanied Gabriella to the nursery? She doesn't look so good."

Gabriella stared at him with disbelief and frowned harder. The teacher asked what was wrong with her and when she was going to protest, Troy quickly added: "She has headache and feels like puking. I would have to take her fast there.''

Mr. Eugene agreed, and Troy took the stunned girls' hand in his and moved toward the door and out of the room.

He dragged her along behind him not listening to her protests and not giving in her demands of him letting go of her wrist. But when she hit his back hard, he spun her around and pinned her to the wall beside them, having both her arms caught up between the wall and his hands. She was trapped.

"Why are you taking me to the nursery? I'm fine." Gabriella said in a small but strong voice.

"Weren't you the one that said that you were in pain?" he asked in an icy voice.

"I've been through worst." She whispered and she closed her eyes as flashbacks came before her, making her head spin a little at the horrific scene taking place.

She stumbled a little to the side in his grasp and he didn't miss that. He took her in his arms and brought her up bridal style into his arms and walked faster toward the nursery room.

And when he got there he set her up in the long chair that the nurse directed to him. He didn't want to let go of her, and she had fainted for a moment, but he had to leave the room to check up on her. The nurse was going to take her shirt off to check on her ribs and see what the problem was.

After a moment thought, he was allowed back into the room and he found Gabriella still laying in the same position, but this time with a little bit more color in her face. She was still pale thought, and it scared him a little.

"What's wrong with your side?" He asked when he saw the bandages around this area of her body getting out under the nursery robe she was now wearing. She quickly adjusted it so that it was not visible anymore and turned herself away from Troy, adjusting her on her good un-bandaged side and wincing a little in the process.

"Okay."He paced for a moment "I'm guessing that you won't tell me that easily huh?"

There was no answer or movement from the other human being in the room. He sighted and sat in a near chair, watching her.

As she silenced herself and stayed without moving a muscle for so long, Troy—being hidden away from her face—could have thought that she was sleeping. Only her un-evened breathing betrayed her.

"Look, Gabriella, I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know what I did to you, I don't know what you want either—"

He was caught up when she spoke for the first time, partially reassuring Troy until he took the scene of her sentence.

"I want you to leave me alone. I want you to go away and never come back. I don't want _you_. That's what _I _want."

He frowned and got up. "Well I'm really sorry for have entered your life since that night; I can see it was a mistake to have met you and actually enjoying myself. Sorry for having brought you here to make sure you were going to be okay. I'll make sure next time—if there will be a next time—that I stay meters away from you, to spare you all of this."

He walked out of the room fuming like a red pepper on a hot casserole, and right before her knocked the door behind him, he added icily

"A simple thank you would have been just fine"

**Thank you so much, all of you who have read this story so far, all of you guys who reviewed, a million thank you-s, all of those that added as their favorite or added it as an alert story, I'm really happy that you did so, and I thank you all for supporting me through it all. **

**Take care of your selves. The next chapter will be up soon I promise! ;) **


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER5**

**Ok so this chapter starts by Gabriella dreaming, that explains the Italic in the beginning. **

**This part has been posted before but there are a lot of places and stuff that have been replaced or deleted, or recreated. So read it out! Hope you will enjoy this, **

**Thanks for reading and please review at the end. Xoxo-prettykouka**

**As always I don't own a thing from the High School Musical characters…**

' _Stay here Ana. Here is my cell phone, call 911 and tell them what is going on okay?'_

_The little girl nodded at the order her older sister had just gave her and stayed in the archway of the Montez's front door._

_She was scared but she managed to call the police force and tell them what they had heard, what they both had sensed to be wrong._

_Gabriella gathered her courage and went inside the house, making her way to the place where she could hear a voice whimpering, filled with pain and suffering, asking for her suffering to stop._

_She could feel anger and frustration crawl themselves up to her face. She pushed the door that separated her kitchen to her family room and gasped._

_A tear sled down her red cheeks and a scary feeling overwhelmed her whole body. She couldn't watch this scene. It couldn't be. She had to be dreaming. This could not be happening right now._

_There on the carpet of the family room, laid her mother, her dad was upon her, beating her up with his fits._

_This could not be happening!_

_Gabriella did the first thing her mind told her to. She rushed over her dad and pushed him away from her mother, but he was quicker and he sent her flying across the room by pushing her away._

_The teenager managed to get up and pull her dad away once more, the only way she had thought was possible, pulling his head up, away from her mother's damaged body._

_He had been drinking. Once again._

_It had to be that reason because her dad would never ever hit her mother. Never. But alcohol could change that statement._

_Daniel Montez exclaimed in pain and twisted himself out of his daughter's arms and pushed her to the floor. Before she could react or push him away he placed himself upon her, his legs in each side of her body, and reached for the bottle of vodka that lay next to her._

_And without thinking out he hit the recipient on her head, blood stamping the carpet and his hands. _

_Then, making sure that she stayed unconscious, he hit her several times in the ribs with his foot. It didn't hurt him to do so. It didn't hurt him a bit to see two of the three women of his life lying unconscious and in pain because of him. It felt good actually because he was letting all his anger out. All of his problems: out. This was like the solutions to his problems: drinking and beating his wife up. These were the moments of delight he had._

_He went back to his previous position and as he was bringing his fits to her stomach, a gun shot was heard. _

_Daniel stumbled a little before falling forward, on his daughter's body._

_Ana watched from the door way as a policeman shot her dad in the back. She felt her body moving to her mother and letting herself fall on her knees next to the body. Tears fluttered down her cheeks. She could bet that her heart was worst due to all the pain it felt right now._

_She rocked the body slowly._

'' _Mom? '' _

_No answer, nor sign that she was still alive. She pushed the body harder, accelerating the pace more and more as she realized that her mother wasn't reacting._

_She let her arms lay across her mother's waist and her face remained on her chest. She knew that she was still alive. _

_Her breathing was slow and harsh but it was there. And that all she asked for. She examined the body in front of her, more tears gathering as she saw all the bruises on her face and the blood that stained her white shirt.'' _

Gabriella woke up from the dreadful nightmare she had been part of.

It felt like she was living the scene twice. She had felt the pain. The pain caused by the bottle that had hit her head and now the pain coming from her injured ribs. The nudge that Troy gave her had been so fiercely done that it damaged some of her broken bones.

This time, she had lived this scene in a different point of view. it wasn't the first time she dreamt about this, and every time when she woke up, it felt like this. But today, the pain was even worse.

Tears sled down of her eyes fast. Why did that have to happen? Why did it have to be this way?

She didn't mind herself being hurt, but her little sister didn't deserve to be part of that scene. If it was that much to handle for Gabriella, imagine her eleven year old little sister who had fought cancer nearly since her five years of birth.

Bringing her legs up to her chest, she wrapped them with her trembling arms and rocked herself back and forth. Letting herself fall on her side, she reached out and grabbed her cell phone, forcing herself to type in the message.

_**It's worst tonight. I've seen the entire thing. It's all because of HIM. He's the cause. You think I still can let him in??!**_

She pressed the send button and the message almost instantly arrived to Sharpay's message box.

-------

The blonde teenager woke up and the sound of her vibrating cell phone and shook the sleep off before reading the message. She instantly understood what Gabriella meant, but still encouraged her.

**Come on Gabs. He can't be the reason why your dream was more revealing today. It's just your imagination or some'. Take a deep breath and try to cool off. Dry the tears from your cheeks okay? Second, you own the kid an apology and your thanks.**

Gabriella quickly typed in another text before settling back under her quilt and trying her best to forget about her dream.

_**Whatever. **_

But no matter how hard she tried to fight the dream, the scene that haunted her everywhere even during the day, it came back eventually when she slowly went into unconsciousness and closed her eyes.

**I know! I know! It was short, but I promise also that the update will be soon. Thanks for all the support. Review please!**

**Thanks :) ;) :P xoxo –Prettykouka**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**I hope you guys will enjoy this :) sorry for late update. I moved and now im going back to school. Really sorry about that. It shouldn't have been an excuse. Also, updating Lovebug tonight, so make sure you read it…**

LAST TIME:

_Gabriella woke up from the dreadful nightmare she had been part of. _

_It felt like she was living the scene twice. She had felt the pain. The pain caused by the bottle that had hit her head and now the pain coming from her injured ribs. The nudge that Troy gave her had been so fiercely done that it damaged some of her broken bones. […]_

_Tears sled down of her eyes fast. Why did that have to happen? Why did it have to be this way?_

_She didn't mind herself being hurt, but her little sister didn't deserve to be part of that scene. If it was that much to handle for Gabriella, imagine her eleven year old little sister who had fought cancer nearly since her five years of birth._

_[ She wanted to forget about her past once and for all and not come back to the old times. But Troy was part of the past, and he needed to be destroyed because he constantly brings her back to those dreadful moment unconsciously .]_

Gabriella still encountered Troy in the hallways and at lunch. And the fact that she had the same class as him for science _everyday_ had her thinking that she couldn't just _avoid_ him. And even if she tried to skip the class each time, you couldn't avoid a next door neighbor now could you?

That though made her sight when she sat on her stool next to Troy on Friday. The weekend was coming up and she was happy that the week was over now. It seemed as if it was on purpose that God made it extremely pass extremely slow.

Troy looked up when she sat down and took her book out, but she paid no attention to him, just like she had for the past week.

He left her alone, not talking to her, not touching her just like she had asked. But he just couldn't stop looking at her every time he saw her. Troy thought all of this was just ridiculous and stupid. Something was -and he didn't know how big that was- attracting him to her.

When he saw Gabriella on her first day, he'd thought that everything would go right between them, that they would get along perfectly. It reminded him of the day they had met. It would be 'The start of something new'.

But it was New. Totally, just not in a good way. And man, he wanted her. He wanted to know that he could just be the one he was last winter again, to know that he had someone besides Chad and Zeke to be goofy and his self around. He needed someone to make him happier, to make him dream.

If someone had spread the rumor of seeing Troy Bolton singing karaoke that night, it would have made just everyone take the situation as it is : just a rumor. Because no one in East High ground would dare to say that Troy Bolton, the head captain of the basketball squad had another talent besides he's basketball skills.

The class started and Troy tried to listen to the lecture of the day. Then Mr. Eugene made two students distribute a sheet of paper with a big table on it. They were going to have a partner assignment for the next hour.

"So you guys, we are going to visualize the different states in the reproduction of cells. If you guys studied or at least read the information from the sheets I gave you two days back, then this exercise will be easy. What you ought to do is to group those different pictures to the timeline, which you can form in the table. Then in the big boxes of the table, you will describe what brings out the differences between all of them. There are small pictures of every state in the whole process. The second exercise is for next time so I want you to focus on the first one today. We are still going to do a projection, and you guys will have to answer the questions from what you learned on the documentary."

Some of the students in the back groaned and the teacher smiling, walked to the door and lowered the lightning of the room, so that the students might be able to take notes when watching the projection.

Gabriella was annoyed. This assignment meant that she would have to work with Troy, and therefore scoot over, closer to him so that they may both see the sheets of paper in the middle of the table. She moved her chair closer to Troy, avoiding his gaze and stared right in front of her, watching the video.

At first, Gabriella took the job of writing down the answers. But after a while, Troy whispered that he wanted a chance to do the assignment too. Now Gabriella sure didn't want that. Troy was a jock, and she was a judge.

Gabriella was the king of people that built prejudice before even knowing the name of the person. She had become that way over the past few months thought. Old Gabriella accepted everyone just the way they were. But she changed. A lot.

"Whatever" she muttered under her breath "I tell you the answers, you write them down"

He chuckled softly and she glared at him."This isn't funny Bolton"

He smiled more and she furrowed her brow, but turned to the screen when it changed.

"Telophase" They said low in unison.

Troy smiled at her surprised look and she looked away, thinking. She'd give him his chance for the next picture.

She looked at him when it changed, waiting for him to find out the answer.

"Aren't you going to tell me what to write down?"He asked

She shook her head and he smiled.

"Anaphase"

She smiled for the first time with him.

It was the right answer.

***

"Come on Gabs! It could be fun! "

"Sharpay's right Gabriella, it might be!" Anna pushed her sister from the back, with Sharpay pulling on Gabriella's arm to get Gabriella walking."You love track!"

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean anything! Plus, I haven't been on a track field since I was in like middle school!" Gabriella complained, trying to set herself free but with no success. "NO! I don't want to go!"

It was Saturday and Sharpay had insisted that Gabriella accompanied her to the track and field try outs. Now, this might sound crazy to you, I mean, how can Sharpay be doing track right? But this time, for once, she wanted to try something new. She was brought up in theatre and dance; Sharpay wanted to get more active now. Even if she loved those two things, she wanted to experience new challenges now, knowing that the doors of art would always stay open for her no matter what.

She was trying out for speed racing. That's what she loved the most. Speeding.

"It will be fun! Come on Gaby!"Sharpay nearly shrieked when they got near the field.

The blonde finally let go of her friend's hand and just shook her head when Gabriella stumble over Anna. "Gabriella, come on. What do you have to lose?"

The brunette shrugged. Gabriella knew Sharpay was right on that one but she just didn't want to. Done.

"You can't just sit around all weekend and do nothing!"Sharpay added, trying to find new arguments to convince her friend.

"I don't sit around and do nothing."Gabriella protested.

"Homework definitely does not count Gabs. Now come one. You know better than this! You love sports and even better you love track! It will be fun I promise! "

"Stop saying that. If I try out, will you then leave me alone to my own choices?"Gabriella asked looking at both girls.

They nodded and willingly she moved towards the field.

"Fine then" Gabriella muttered under her breath, stepping on the track field.

"Who do we have here trying out for track and field?"The coach said coming into view and smiling to the small group of kids."Well welcome, I'm Alexander Dubois. Coach and adviser. So before you guys start moving to what you want to try out for, you guys need to warm up. We don't want you guys to get injured before making the team right?"

He gestured to the group of boys and girls jogging around the track."Care to join them for that. Good luck to everyone, and please, have fun and do your best."He smiled and walked away.

Gabriella and Sharpay jogged around, following the rather small group of people that were already in the team.

"They are freshman kids who were in the squad before they even went to high school. They practice at this time of the day. But the older ones have practice in the afternoon" Sharpay explained to Gabriella while they were coming back to the benches to grab a bottle of water.

"Alright. Are you guys ready?" The coach asked from behind the girls. They turned around and nodded. "What are you going for " He asked looking at the board he had in his hand.

"Speed." Sharpay smirked, feeling excitement raise in her from her fast beating heart to her toes."Totally speed"

The coach nodded and told her she could go get ready and that he'd be over to time her in a little while.

Sharpay smiled before she jogged where the coach had pointed to her for her 100 meters tryout.

"And you?" he questioned Gabriella.

"I'm going to go for high and long jump. But mainly high."Gabriella said, suddenly nervous.

He nodded before leaving her side to head over to other kids.

Gabriella looked around for her sister and smiled as the little girl came running down from where she sat on the upper benches.

Anna hugged her sister, looking up at her with a supportive grin. "God bless you Gabs. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Don't be so sure about that Ana-bee. Don't forget I haven't done this thing in 3 years."

The older sibling patted Anna's hair when the young kid let go of Gabriella, smiling at the smoothness of her longer hair now.

At the end of their try out, both girls, especially Gabriella, had to admit that they enjoyed themselves.

They were both nervous at first, but somehow, they felt like this was their place to be, their element and they just gave all they had into their respective section.

That's why the trio was now heading downtown for pizza, to celebrate their achievements.

"Congratulations, Ms Sharpay, Mr. Wavier, Ms Trafford, Miss Montez and Mr. Rousseau. You've made the teams and I hope to see you here on Wednesday after school for the very first practice with the whole team. 3 o'clock. Schedules will be distributed then."

The girls piled in a booth and chatted while they waited for their order to arrive. This was their favorite parlor because it had the best pizzas in town for a fair price. Few people knew about how good the food was due to the far away placing of the diner.

"I'm actually pretty excited about this whole track thing and I realized that it's not going to be a waste of time like I thought it would be." Gabriella sipped on the water, the waiter just brought them "I really enjoyed myself and it's amazing how I didn't mess up until coach put the bar like extra extra high for me. I was pretty happy thought even if it fell once or twice. We're in the team!" She hi-fived her friend and they all smiled to each other.

"Anna, do you still love ballet and hip hop?"Sharpay asked after a moment, intrigued as to what she had missed in the last years of being separated from the Montez's family.

"Totally. We're in a small town though, so I don't know if there is like a big dancing studio or dance school like in Malibu."

" You're right but I have this friend of mine who teaches a dance class. It's not the upper thing like you are used to, but there are lots of kids who attend, even from other towns, and it's pretty popular. She teaches jazz and hip hop. Her name is Kelsi and Martha, her co-worker shall we say, is the bomb in hip hop choreography."Sharpay smiled as she saw sparkles reach Anna's eyes. "They practice every Friday if you are interested "

Ana didn't seem to think twice about it before she exclaimed enthusiastically "Sign me in!"


End file.
